Skills Checklist — Communication Milestones Ages 0–5

Is my child on track?

This checklist was designed for the parent who has quietly wondered whether their child is hitting the right milestones — but didn't know where to look or who to ask.

Organized by age from birth through 5 years, this guide walks you through the communication skills that a typical child is developing at each stage — from early sounds and gestures to vocabulary, sentence structure, and school-readiness language skills.

Inside this guide:

• Age-by-age communication milestones from 0–5 years

• Skills across listening, understanding, speaking, and speech sounds

• A note on what to do if something doesn't feel right

This guide is for you if:

• Your child is approaching a new age milestone and you want to know what to expect

• Someone mentioned a concern and you want to understand what typical development looks like

• You just want peace of mind — or a reason to seek a professional for guidance
  

Created by Sarah Chu, M.S. CCC-SLP — a bilingual, licensed speech-language pathologist specializing in early language development.

This guide is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for a clinical evaluation.